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Macaron Tutorial

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

As a child, I can't say that I ever knew hunger. I got hungry for sure. But I never knew the deep feeling of being hungry and knowing I would not be able to satisfy my growling stomach. My parents did not always have it easy and I can see there were times when budgets and expenses were calculated to the penny but one thing my brothers and myself never questioned to have or not was food.

If times were a bit strained, we, as children, never knew it. I just noticed we ate more eggs throughout the week and lots more soups. I never put two and two together because I never had to. There was always food in my plate.Some children don't have this chance. Some children go hungry on a daily basis.

My parents knew that. They made sure we did too and very early on in our lives made sure we knew the purpose of charity. We did it silently. Charity is an act that comes from inside of you. It does not need to be advertised or require praises.Just do. We know what it's like to hit hard times and to have a great support system of friends and family. Some people are not as lucky. Most of all, children should never know the physical and emotional pains of hunger.

If I can direct your heart to cozy place this holiday season it would be toward Share Our Strength and their "No Kid Hungry" campaign. Gaby from What's Gaby Cooking emailed a few weeks back and asked a bunch of bloggers to partner up with Share Our Strength to help them spread the word and raise awareness through a virtual progressive dinner, inviting readers to a Holiday Table filled with all sorts of ideas from appetizers to dessert, vegetarian, budget friendly, gluten free, gourmet, etc...

All these dishes are so tempting and for us so easy to come up with but for others it would take a village to fill up their plates. And the ones of their children. We are that village. We are that community. I have an ever shaking faith in our humanity but I believe the holiday season makes us softer and in that regard, I am indeed asking that you would consider participating and pledging to help Share Our Strength "No Kid Go Hungry" campaign. Why? Because one dollar makes a child already closer to 10 meals. That's huge...

My virtual contribution to the campaign is one of my dad's all time favorites, a Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake. His mother used to make it for him when he was a kid and I grew up listening to my dad's recollection of Mamette (her nickname) and her famous jelly roll cake. It made him feel like a king. Every child should know that feeling. I always felt like it was a special moment when my mom would try her hand at it. A simple cake such as this became the anchor of some many memories in our family.

A lot of us out there will be creating wonderful family memories gathered around a pretty table filled with great foods, family recipes, easy, budget friendly, etc...you name it. We will give praises and thanks. We will raise our forks and cheer. We will eat, rub our bellies and laugh.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter the bottom of a baking sheet (I used 2 quarter sheet pans) and line with parchment paper, butter the paper liberally.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add the rice and millet flours, gum, baking pwder and salt. Switch to a spatula and fold the ingredients together briefly.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the whites at high speed until medium stiff peaks form.Take about 1/3 of the egg whites and fold them into the egg yolk/flour batter. Do not worry about folding carefully, you just want to use the moisture from the whites to add fluidity to the batter.Now, carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites into two installments.Spread the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until barely golden brown.Remove from the oven and let cool about 5 minutes. Place a piece of parchment paper onto your work surface, invert your baking sheet over it and slowly peel the parchment paper from the bake of the cake. Using the bottom piece of paper, start rolling the cake onto itself, starting from the longest edge.Let it cool completely. Unroll, fill with the jam and reroll. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Oh my, it is wonderful. I've always wanted to make a jelly roll but i was always scared, as my mother finds them impossible to make. But now I might just gather up the courage. Can I ask what jelly you used? Is it jelly or jam? Do they both work?

Absolutely gorgeous! I've tried making a jelly roll before but when I tried rolling it, the cake cracked. Would you have any idea why that happened? Did I leave it in the oven for too long? I will definitely give your recipe a try! What would you suggest to modify if I was making a non-gluten version? Thanks!

T & T: usually overbaking will cause the cake to dry out and crack when you roll it. It could also come from the ratio of moist to dry ingredients in the original recipe.For a non gluten free version, use the same amount as the rice and millet flour in all purpose flour.

Yes, how lucky to be able to rub our bellies and laugh. I count my blessings each and every day. And I am so grateful to have been able to participate in this wonderful event. Imagine if the "No Child Left Behind" program had first dealt with childhood hunger.

Thank you for a most beautiful dessert. I've been too scared to try my hand at making a jelly roll, but you make it sound so easy. I think I can do it!

Thanks for the reminder, Helene. EVERY child does deserve nice childhood memories and a full belly but that's just not the reality. It breaks my heart to see some of these children who just aren't getting what they need, food, love, a decent pair of shoes. I work at a school that is the poorest in our district (only school that gets a free lunch) and I see (and feed) these children almost everyday.It takes a village to raise a child and we all need to do our part!

Your cake looks scrumptious! I like to give cake rolls on pretty platters as gifts. There are always so well received. ;)

Such a wonderful cause Helene... Bless you for blessing other children with your gift of food.. I can't help but thank God for people like you, people like you who have a wider reach of influence to the world and use it for a greater good.

Helene, I have a gluten free cake roll question. Every Christmas I make a chocolate buche de Noel for my dh. This year my father is coming for the holiday and both he and his fiancee have Celiac disease so I am trying to adapt my recipe. It only calls for 4Tbsps flour. Do you have any suggestions on what to substitute?

I made this for a friend who has coeliac disease, since it seemed so nice, and instead it was a disaster... I followed the instructions to the letter, but when I tried to peel off the parchment paper after the cake had cooled, chunks of it remained stuck to the paper, so the roll looked like Godzilla had wiped its feet on it. The taste was quite weird too - I know gluten free cakes taste different, I have baked and eaten plenty of them, but I didn't like this one - I guess I'll avoid millet flour in the future.

Antonia: wondering why it did not work for you beside the oven temperatures and subsequent baking times being off or the folding of the whites into the batter. Hard to say what could have gone wrong without seeing your process. Made it again a few weeks ago without a problem. Gluten free four greatly vary in taste and it takes a few trial and error to find which ones you like.

I made this today for my grandaughter,she is 7yrs old and asked if her Nanny could make a jelly roller for her.lol..so was so happy when it turned out perfect and tastes better than a store bought non gluten free one,thanks so much for recipe and now I'll attempt another of her wishes,an angel cake..will check your site for a recipe..Sandra Muir..a Nanny with hope..